The story of Itchan Kala

You are inside Itchan Kala, the walled inner town of Khiva, protected as a World Heritage Site since 1990. Within these walls stand more than 50 historic monuments and 250 old houses, most of them from the 18th or 19th centuries. Legend gives the place a sacred past: clay from here was said to have been used for buildings in Medina in the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad, and Khiva's sacred Kheyvak canal was said to have been dug by Shem, son of Noah, with a miraculous spade.

The mud-brick walls rise 8–10 metres and are 5–6 metres thick, with watchtowers every 30 metres. Four gates remain: Bogcha in the north, Polvon in the east, Tosh in the south and Ota in the west.

Later khans sped up building: they completed the palace in the Konya Ark, raised the Toshhovli Palace and began the unfinished Kaltaminor minaret.